Realtor Floyd Doring spearheads site search

Article & Photo by Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

Floyd Doring considers himself a Grand Islander – after all, he moved to the Island more than 60 years ago.

But his health issues and the death of his wife, Chie, in 2024, prompted him to move away, to an assistant living facility in Wheatfield, because there’s no such option in his hometown.

Although Doring says it’s nice there, it’s not Grand Island, where his family and friends live.

The longtime Realtor, still professionally active in his 90s, is spearheading a move to establish an assisted living facility on Grand Island. He wants the next generation of seniors to have the option of staying on Grand Island when they can no longer live on their own.

“We need somebody to come forward and say, ‘I know this idea will work,’ ” Doring said at a recent meeting of a group whose members call themselves the “Lunch Bunch.” They are friends and colleagues who meet monthly and often discuss Island issues.

Those in attendance responded positively to Doring’s idea. They identified the need to find a site, a developer, and investors to bring the senior housing idea to fruition on the Island.

Realtor Betty Harris has said there are perhaps 10 to 12 parcels that could be reviewed and looked at for a suitable site.

“It’s going to take time and research,” she said.

One luncheon attendee pointed out that people now living on the Island would want their aging parents to be able to stay close to home, should they need that next level of care.

Another said that zoning is a big thing to consider in their quest for a site: “It has to go where it’s allowed to go.”

Marston acknowledges need for Island facility

Grand Island Supervisor Peter Marston, contacted this week for his response, said he believes assisted living housing is needed for Grand Island.

“I think it’s a huge, key component that we are missing, I would love to see it,” Marston said.

“I think we would all be very supportive of it,” he said on behalf of the town.

“When my parents went through their end stages of life, we were really disappointed there was nothing like that (for them) on the Island.”

As to direct town involvement, that’s not what the town does, Marston said.

“Unfortunately, that’s private business, and you know private business has to want to be there – to be there,” he said. “There’s really no way for us (the town) to make that happen. The only thing we can do is enable it, if it knocks on our door.

“I appreciate Floyd’s drive – his selflessness, so to speak – because he’s really worried about the next generation, more so than himself.”

Ideas brought to the table

Group member Ehde co-chaired a fundraising event in September that raised $6,022 so that Grand Island could have a display of fireworks on July 4, 2025, at Niagara Amusement Park & Splash World at Fantasy Island.

Ehde’s campaign to renew the Island’s fireworks display could be seen as a precedent for what a local group can do at a grassroots level to accomplish shared goals and better the community.

She said she has hopes that momentum will build for an assisted living facility.

“I like the idea,” Ehde said. “I also know it’s not going to be an overnight process – but to get it started for the next generation” would be a good thing for the community.

“We’re looking for people to help us, back us, to make this thing go,” Doring said last week.

Harris praised Doring’s initiative, saying his presence on Grand Island has been significant and positive.

“He’s our eldest, most accomplished Realtor,” she said.

 

New build or adaptive reuse? That is the question

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

As a group of Islanders – led by Realtor Floyd Doring – seeks a suitable site for an assisted living facility on Grand Island, they are looking for others to help them.

They need to find investors, a developer and a suitable site.

 If you would like to help, contact Mary Ehde at 716-773-4862 or 716-698-2293.

Some options have been discussed; some have been ruled out.

Expert gives advice

A senior housing administrator has weighed in on some criteria that should be considered in the search for an assisted living site and a development plan.

Mark Fuller is president of DePaul, a progressive, private nonprofit based in Rochester that is dedicated to providing quality services to those with health and affordable housing needs. DePaul has 66 total facilities, all in New York state. Four are assisted-living facilities, but most of what the company does is apartments for seniors.

Fuller visited Wheatfield Commons, a DePaul Senior Living Community in North Tonawanda, to talk to Doring about issues involving the establishment of a similar facility on Grand Island

Fuller advised a cautious approach. He had suggestions to pass along to the Grand Island group that’s pushing for local assisted-living options, and to those who wish to help them.

He explained the state Department of Health licenses assisted living facilities, and the process is very involved.

“It takes an application to the state. It typically takes two to three years for them to approve the application. But you have to come in with your land, market study, needs study … and a proposal of what you want to build,” Fuller advised.

The certificate of need is a 200-page document to complete, so it’s a lot of work, he noted.

Costs are daunting

“The problem now is the cost of construction has gone so crazy since COVID – it’s probably up 50% – that it’s just too hard to build,” Fuller said. “It’s just on hiatus – I don’t think anyone is doing it right now, that I know of.”

Wheatfield Commons was built seven years ago. He said it’s probably the only facility of its kind in New York state that stayed 100% full all through COVID.

“It’s got such a good reputation, we’re really proud of it,” Fuller said. “I would like to build these all up and down the Thruway, but it would probably be double the cost now, and then nobody could afford to live there, and we couldn’t afford to run it.”

Fuller said DePaul has scoped out what’s needed to transform existing buildings into assisted living facilities, but found it was too difficult.

“You never get what you want,” he said. “These older buildings … you can’t make ADA-compliant (Americans with Disabilities Act) – the wheelchair radiuses and all that – you’ve got mold remediation, asbestos, and they (older large buildings such as hotels) used to have 7-foot ceilings, and it just gives you that closed-in feeling.

“It’s really hard and, quite honestly, there was one project where we started to rehab and we ended up bulldozing the building, because we actually could bulldoze it and build it new, cheaper than renovating, because of the asbestos.”

Fuller said that’s probably the case with structures that were built before 1990.

Island sites as options

The Southpointe planned development district on Grand Island has 168 assisted-living units on the drawing board near the intersection of Staley and Baseline roads, the northwest corner of its 284-acre project.

“We’re excited to see that; we know there’s a need here,” Supervisor Peter Marston said of the project’s inclusion of assisted living.

Southpointe’s site development plan would also include single-family houses, townhouses and apartments. The area is bordered by Staley Road to the north, Love Road to the south, Baseline Road to the west and the I-190/South State Parkway to the east on Grand Island.

Scheid Architectural is the architect for land owner/developer Harold Schertz.

An assisted-living component is on the developer’s map, but to date, the only physical work done at the site has been to clear the land. A Southpointe project has been talked about under different scenarios and development plans for more than 30 years; its footprint has been greatly reduced over time.

Vacant land of proper size and price on Grand Island would also be on the group’s list to review.

Elderwood no longer pursuing assisted living

Elderwood at Grand Island had, at one time, explored the idea of expanding to include assisted living, Marston said. That’s no longer being considered for the 90-bed skilled nursing facility that also offers long-term care and subacute rehab.

Elderwood Administrator Dalton Burke said on Monday, “At this point, Elderwood doesn’t really have any plans” to expand its footprint and services to include an assisted living facility.

Marston said he recalls a time about 10 years ago when an 11.3-acre vacant lot parcel at 2800 Grand Island Blvd., adjacent to Elderwood’s site at 2850 Grand Island Blvd., was considered for assisted living.

“Many years ago, when I was a Planning Board member, we did see a concept come through from Elderwood that they basically (were interested in going) from their facility south towards Bedell,” Marston said. “And they showed us a plan, and it’s actually been approved, to build an independent living, and then the middle section was an assisted living and the far end was more of a skilled nursing, which they have currently.”

“It got through everything and got approvals and all that, but it just kind of fell by the wayside,” Marston said, noting he doesn’t know the reason why the idea was halted.